The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to a system for actively controlling wheel dynamics on an agricultural vehicle, and in particular, to a system that monitors a changing load or a resonant operating point on the agricultural vehicle and varies the wheel pressure to maintain a desired operating performance of the vehicle.
Agricultural vehicles are used under a wide range of operating conditions. The vehicles are used outdoors and exposed, for example, to varying temperatures and ground conditions. The vehicle may be required to traverse a paved road to move from a storage facility to a field and then traverse gravel, grass, dirt, or mud getting to and working in the field. The vehicles may further be required to operate at varying speeds or under varying loads depending on the type of crops or the particular application being performed. For example, the vehicle may travel at different speeds when planting crops, applying fertilizer to a crop, or harvesting a crop. Further, as a vehicle applies product to a field, the load in the vehicle decreases as the product is dispensed, and as a vehicle harvests product from the field, the load in the vehicle receiving the crop increases.
It is desirable to provide a comfortable ride to the operator of the agricultural vehicle across the wide variety of operating conditions. Ride quality has been improved by providing improved suspensions on the agricultural vehicles. However, the dynamics of the wheels, such as spring and/or dampening, play a significant role in the ride quality as well. The dynamics of wheels are impacted by the physical construction of the wheel as well as the pressure in the wheel during operation. The suspension of the agricultural vehicle is typically tuned to provide a desired ride quality based on a certain dynamic of the wheel. Thus, it is desirable to maintain the dynamic of the wheel to provide the desired ride quality. However, the dynamic of the wheel is dependent on the loading of the agricultural vehicle. As the load changes, the wheel dynamics change, resulting in a divergence of the wheel dynamic from the desired wheel dynamics corresponding to the tuning of the suspension.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved system for controlling the dynamic performance of wheels during operation of an agricultural vehicle in which the load is changing.
Further, it is known that under certain loading conditions and speeds of operation or when travelling across a furrowed field agricultural vehicles may enter a resonant operating condition. At the resonant operating condition, the agricultural vehicle begins to severely bounce or pitch forward and backward. The undesirable operation is due, at least in part to the wheel dynamics.
Thus, it is also desirable to provide an improved system for controlling the dynamic performance of wheels to avoid operating an agricultural vehicle under a resonant operating condition.